for sojourners and exiles, dearly beloved (1 Pet. 2:11)

Only Comfort in Life and Death

What is your only comfort in life and in death? Thus opens the first question in the Heidelberg Catechism. And one must admit this is a pretty good question.

But is it too ‘man centered’ to be thinking about our own comfort, let alone thinking about it first? Shouldn’t we rather be thinking first about God and his glory? Well, the authors to the Heidelberg Catechism (Zacharius Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus) didn’t think so. They understood that recognizing man’s abject and real need was not contrary to the glory of God, but rather tended toward it. God is glorified when we recognize our total dependance upon him for life and salvation.

But let’s dwell on this question a little more? What really is man’s only comfort?

In life, we might look to the various comfort we see around us: friends, family, jobs, cars, homes, sports, hobbies, etc. And these surly can be comforts. But what happens when these fail? What happens when our loved one dies, or our families let us down, or we loose our jobs. More importantly, what happens when our life ebbs away and we approach death itself? What is our only comfort then — in life and in death? Even thinking about death (something us Americans are so good at avoiding) can be unnerving. It’s so final So dark. So unknown. So scary.

And, surely, death is all those things. And that’s why this question is so helpful. Inevitably we’ll have to face times when our worldly comforts pass away, and we’re left with the question: what is our comfort?

The first part of the answer starts out: That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own… Full stop! Wait a second! How can this be comforting? How can our not belonging to ourselves be comforting. Not to ourselves, but to somebody else!?!? Are you kidding me? These authors must have been in another world! How could that ever be more comfortable? Couldn’t they have come up with a better idea to start off with? Let’s think about it.

In our day, ownership of other individuals isn’t exactly culturally preferred. In fact, there’s much controversy about people not being able to “own” their pets (dogs and cats and such) because it’s against animal rights. Yeah… Beneath all that, our culture still has some communal remembrance of the atrocities of slavery, which only further obscure the notion of ownership. And yet the Bible tells us that we are not our own — that we belong to another, even to Jesus Christ. And furthermore, it tells us that we are not only his servants, but even his slaves. How is that possible? More to the point, How is that comforting?

Well, in NT times, slaves were common. And one of the things that kept slaves from being mistreated by other people was the fact that they belonged to another master. So, if someone, for any old reason, wanted to beat you up, they’d have to think twice before doing anything to you. Why? Because you were someone else’s servant. You belonged to another. So you can imagine how it was a privilege to be the servant/slave of an important and respected master. People couldn’t just mess with you, they’d have to answer to your master. So you were relatively safe. (Now, I suppose this depended also on the relative strength and power of one’s master as well.)

Interestingly, this idea of ownership is the one taken up by the Heidelberg Catechism. I am not my own… but belong to my faithful savior Jesus Christ. See how this is comforting? We belong to the best, most powerful, most kind, most considerate, master in the world. And not only does he love us so much that he died for us, but he’s stronger than any other master in the world and can deliver and protect us from every enemy.

The Catechism continues: who with His precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and has redeemed me from all the power of the devil. Heb. 2:14-15 says,

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

And John says:

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (Jn. 8:36).

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work (1 Jn. 3:8)

So we see how this is tremendously comforting. What can man do to me? What can the devil and all his demons to? They have to answer to Christ. And all dominion over heaven and earth has been given unto him. He is Lord over all the universe. And I am his servant, indeed his slave. What better place can there be? What safer place can their be? What greater comfort can there be in life and in death? And we see that the answer is, None at all.

And [He] so preserves me that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily reading and willing to live unto Him.(Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 1: Question 1)